My first thought this morning was what kind of a year has 2019 been? On December 30, 2019, it’s a good question to ask. If I’m only asking myself; if the question is “how has my 2019 been”, the answer is Outstanding. I’m healthy and that’s 50% and the rest is attitude, luck and circumstance. Having several ukuleles and a few bottles of Vodka doesn’t hurt either. Let us see what the Commission has deemed celebratory today: Festival of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, Bacon Day, National Bicarbonate of Soda Day and Falling Needles Family Fest Day. The first one is about getting done anything that didn’t get done by the end of the year. The falling needles fest is about the real tree that is so dry a spark can burn your house down. Get rid of it. I’m going with bacon and I’ll celebrate it when I make breakfast. Now to the history of this date: In 1809 the wearing of masks at balls forbidden in Boston. Why? I looked it up. It seems that the city fathers were worried about the sexual promiscuity that could happen when people’s identity is concealed. In 1903 an electric arc lamp sets fire to Iroquois theater in Chicago leaving 602 dead in one of the deadliest blazes in American history. In 1918 John E Hoover decides to be called J. Edgar Hoover. I didn’t know that. In 1936 the United Auto Workers stage 1st sit-down strike, at Fisher Body Plant. Finally in 1963 “Let’s Make A Deal,” debuts on NBC-TV. This date (1836) is the birthday of Rudyard Kipling who wrote Jungle Book and Gunga Din. Here are a couple of his quotes: “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.” and “I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.” I like the first one because of the memories and the second because of the philosophy. Now, I will start the next to the last day of this Outstanding year. Abide now.
